"Internal medicine" in the USA, and "general medicine" in the UK, are increasingly assuming the form of basic medical knowledge with a view to subsequent specialization. In Switzerland, three types of practising internists or physicians (in the strict sense) can be described: the internist as general practitioner, the general internist with a main centre of interest, and the subspecialist. Continuing medical education must take these manifold aspects of the profession into account. For practising physicians, joint meetings of internists of the second and third types are desirable, on the lines of those for physicians in the major hospitals.